Tell Me Where It Hurts
by Kylara Kitsune
Summary: Leon's injured, but refuses to let Cloud help him.


**AN: Prompt 83 - "Heal". Not my characters, as ever.**

Cloud Strife was amazed to find he was awake first. He didn't have to wait for anybody to finish in the bathroom before he could shower, there was nobody sitting in the kitchen as he ate his breakfast. This had never happened before. Squall "Call me Leon" Leonhart was always the first person up in the mornings, even when he'd been on guard duty the night before. Cloud wasn't certain the stoic warrior even slept, actually. Speaking of Leon, where the hell was he? By the time Cloud had finished eating, even Yuffie was awake.

"Good morning, Cloudy." Cloud grunted a reply. He would never understand how Yuffie could be so cheerful this early in the day.

It wasn't until they'd all left the house that a slow, steady movement could be heard on the stairs. It had to be Leon, since everybody else was out. Cloud, uncharacteristically concerned, went to check. Leon was trying to walk downstairs as normally as possible, which wasn't easy with the pronounced limp he'd acquired in their last fight with the Heartless. The brunet waved away Cloud's offer of help.

"I can manage on my own."

The blond raised an eyebrow, sceptically. "It's quite clear you can't. Where did you get hurt, last night?"

"It's not that bad. It'll heal."

"It'll heal faster if it's cleaned properly. I bet you didn't even do that, did you?"

Leon didn't answer, all his concentration focused on getting down the final two steps. He managed one, but tripped on the second, unable to keep his balance properly. Cloud caught him before he hit the floor, but Leon couldn't stop the grunt of pain that escaped.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me where it hurts, Leon."

"I don't need your help, Cloud. I'm fine."

Cloud ignored the remark, instead placing an arm around Leon's waist and guiding him to a chair, before fetching a medical kit. "I'm no good with magic, like Aerith is, but I can make sure it's properly clean. Now, where is this injury?"

Leon looked away, gesturing in the general direction of his lap. Finally, Cloud understood why Leon was so insistent he could manage by himself. "So it's in an embarrassing place. Grow up, Leon, I know what the male bits look like. Nothing I haven't seen before."

Leon glared, threatened to use his gunblade on the blond, but now that Cloud knew what the problem was, he was determined to help. Leon ended up sitting on the chair in his boxer shorts, his trousers removed and placed out of reach by Cloud. Cloud, meanwhile, had opened the first aid kit, and was kneeling down in a place that would ordinarily have looked very suggestive.

"Nice boxers, Leonhart."

"Like you have room to talk, Strife. Mine don't have pictures of chocobos on them."

"No, you have moogles instead."

"Bite me, Cloud."

Cloud smirked, leaning a little closer than Leon was comfortable with. "Any preference where?" What Leon hadn't noticed, until then, was the antiseptic Cloud was pouring onto cotton wool. When it touched the cut on his thigh, he flinched away, hissing sharply.

"Bastard."

"Why do you think I was distracting you? This stuff stings like hell."

"If you're going to distract me, do it properly." Leon's voice was low, quiet, sensual. Flirtatious, which Cloud had never heard from Leon before.

"What do you want me to do?" Cloud's voice was rougher than usual, as though he was having difficulty saying the words. His eyes, mako blue, never left Leon's steel grey eyes for even an instant.

"Let me see... I think this would be a good start." Leon pulled Cloud up slightly, allowing their lips to meet. Cloud's hands rested on Leon's thighs for balance, the antiseptic pad pressed firmly on the cut. Leon didn't seem to notice it any more, as his eyes closed and his arms wrapped tightly around the blond. Cloud wasn't complaining, either, as he returned the kiss enthusiastically. It was a while before they broke apart, both breathing heavily, skin flushed. Leon's hand trailed slowly through Cloud's spiky hair as Cloud remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

"I think it's clean," he pronounced, sticking a gauze pad over it. This time, he couldn't meet Leon's eyes, unsure of himself.

"I don't suppose you could help me back upstairs?" A glint in Leon's eyes suggested the question wasn't as innocent as it had sounded. Cloud grinned, extending a hand for the brunet to take.

"Oh, I think I could manage that."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Tell me I'm seeing things."

"Yuffie, you're seeing things." Aerith humoured the ninja as she unpacked a bag of food. "What's the matter?"

Yuffie simply pointed to the top of a cupboard, her hand shaking. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, those are Leon's trousers."

Aerith looked up, bemused. "So they are. I wonder what they're going up there."

Yuffie's infamous curiosity failed her for the first time. "I honestly don't want to know, Aerith. I just don't want to know."


End file.
